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Managing For Money
Leads Are Soft, Competition Is Hard
When things are slow, your telephone
can become your power tool.
by Steven C. Bursten
It’s almost March as words fall on paper in cadence with
snow falling to earth here in the Washington, DC, area. If you
live north of Charlotte, NC, and east of Kansas City, MO, chances
are that a few weeks ago you were snow bound for a few days.
If you are like a lot of Eastern window coverings retailers, leads fell to a
dribble. As you read this with sunny springtime at hand, the phone may be ringing
off the hook. On the other hand, you may need more leads no matter what the weather—especially
if you manage a team of decorators who look to you for their livelihoods. And
you want good leads, not just any old leads.
GOOD LEADS
If you want to avoid customers who are suspicious of you, don’t know what
a great company you are, and want to price shop you to the last nickel, here’s
how to get the quality leads you want.
First, while it is fresh in your memory, let’s talk about stormy times
when lead flow always falls off. Here is a perfect exercise for you or your decorators
on those crummy days with snow, driving rain, sweltering heat, or just anytime
that leads slow to a crawl.
This exercise is based on proven principles:
Principle 1: Good decorators want to be on an appointment selling. If they are
not on an appointment, their hottest priority is to create an appointment.
Principle 2: Customers who have bought before are always better leads than strangers
that don’t know you.
Principle 3: It pays to keep in touch. When people hear from you they remember
you. If they remember you, they call you more quickly for a repeat sale and refer
you automatically.
PUTTING THESE PRINCIPLES
TO WORK
Now, let’s put these principles to work. Here is a real story to make the
point. I’ll never forget some years ago when we had a blizzard in Indiana,
a decorator named Sherry in Lafayette found herself snowbound at home. Sherry
figured, “If I can’t get out of the driveway, neither can my customers.”
So Sherry got on the phone and before long had reached more than 60 friends and
customers. She didn’t call to twist their arms to buy something. She called
as a friend to ask if they were receiving her flyers with decorating tips and
to ask if they liked receiving them every month.
Here’s what happened from making these calls:
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Sherry reached over 90 percent of her customers at home, thanks to miserable
weather.
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Sherry learned that over 95 percent of homeowners liked her flyers and wanted
to keep receiving them.
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Sherry targeted her phone calls and was able to build her business within a specific
area of high-income residences. She talked to quality-conscious customers who
appreciated service and professionalism.
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People she phoned called her, some soon, some later. But when they did call,
they did not call six competitors to shop prices. They did business with Sherry
because of personal relationships and good follow-up. They trusted her.
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Sherry’s enthusiasm jumped to the top. It was fun talking to friendly customers
and prospects.
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Sherry felt pride in herself because she took control of her business when lead
flow was dead. She did not wait for the world to come to her; she changed the
world.
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Immediate business was generated over the next 60 days. Long-term sales grew
steadily in the neighborhood of 80 homes she targeted—from dead zero to
hundreds of thousands of dollars in two to three years.
BREAK-THROUGH EXPERIENCE
This was a break-through experience for Sherry and for me, as her manager. She
discovered the power of the telephone. I discovered that when outside weather
is the worst and leads are slow, that inside the sales person’s home it
is warm and cozy; time to curl up with a good telephone!
Your phone loves bad weather. It is your power tool just waiting to go to work.
Now, how do we put this experience to work in your business?
PREPARE! IT’S THE KEY TO SUCCESS
When leads are slow, the phone is your friend. But to use the phone you need
a phone list. The first step is to prepare. Do it yourself when leads are slow,
or hire it done for less than $50. Here is how easy it is:
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Pull an entire list of your customers over the past two years. Sort them any
way you want, by sales, by alphabet, or by ZIP code.
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Get the list in front of you. Whether it is a computer printout, or three-by-five
cards or file folders does not matter. When you can see the names, go to the
next step. This next step is crucial to optimize your time and money.
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Check off all the people you really like. We call these “Favorite Customers.” Favorite
customers either will be people who bought a lot or people you “connect” with
that just feel good. Even if they did not buy a lot, they believe in you and
will refer you. Probably this will be from 30 to 60 percent of your customers.
Naturally, include realtors and people who refer you.
Now, you have a manageable group of names to focus on that is one-half to one-third
the time required for your entire list, but which will give you 80 percent of
your results!
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Next, ask a clerk to type up this list. Use Excel or a spreadsheet form. Important:
place first name and last name in different “cells” or “fields.” Do
the same with street address, city and state. Do not type them all together.
This way you can import them into a computer database for follow-up later on.
This is really simple. Get your list together and you will be ready for stormy
times when they come. If you want to know more about marketing to “Favorite
Customers” so you are not fighting competitors at every turn, please sign
up for our free eNewsletter, “Favorite Customer Marketing” at www.custemers.com/fcm.
Next time leads are soft and competition is hard, you can have fun building your
business because you are prepared and ready to phone!
 Steven
C. Bursten is the retired founder of Decorating Den Interiors and
author of a how-to book on new business start up, Bootstrap Entrepreneur.
He is president of custEmers.com,
specializing in affordable Internet marketing tools along with tried
and true techniques. Bursten welcomes your questions about marketing,
sales and customer relationships. Request his new report for businesses
that sell $1 million a year—or want to: “Solutions for
Million Dollar Managers” via e-mail: million.dwc@custEmers.com.
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